Augmented Reality: Location Ownership

When people are wandering around with AR glasses, there will be an app, a system, that serves up the AR content. But the content will necessarily mostly be supplied.

AR is by definition location based. So who gets to supply information about a particular place? There will be three models:

Ownership – as used by Google now for Google Maps / Google My Business, you can claim a business by having a postcard with a code sent to the address. This works well, and the best systems will use this, and/or something more comprehensive. Still, it only works for locations that are owned… doesn’t work for beach

Frequency – typically a person who is in a location the most, is the resident, the worker, or the person who is there the most (like a spot on the beach). This can be done more quickly and cheaper than ownership.

Who Pays Wins – in Google search, advertisers can bid on keywords that are the brand name of a competitor. Typically it doesn’t work well, because that searcher wants the competitor, not you.

Likewise, a location can be made available to the highest bidder. Not for factual info, but for promotional purposes. Yes, there will be an app that puts a billboard on the side of your house.